Photo by Eradio Valverde, Jr.
Hear the devotional narrated here: https://bit.ly/3aAKJ2p
1 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2 Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. 3 I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. 4 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. 5 The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, 6 let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't. If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; 7 if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; 8 if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face. (Romans 12:1-8 The Message)
A blessed Tuesday to you, my dear Friend! Why do we pray? Because God answers prayers! And this morning I asked a pastor friend of mine, The Rev. Scott Bradford, to pray for rain in these parts and guess what we got? Rain! Not too much, but enough to show, "I do answer prayers! All according to my will!" Amen, Lord, thank You! It was enough to drop the temperatures a bit and to cool off this area if for a bit, but we'll take it!
And another man who believed in prayer and was constantly in prayer, was the Apostle Paul. He was open to whatever God may show him and he used almost everything in his writings and teachings. Years ago, a pastor in the Southwest Texas Conference sold a monthly service called Windows to Truth, in which he shared what he had gleaned from readings and from friends, in this monthly service of sermon illustrations. I subscribed to it because I loved the stories in there. Yet, I will never forget a noted preacher once saying, "If you want sermon illustrations, just keep your eyes open!" Indeed. That's what Paul did. And in his visit to Corinth, he went through an ancient museum on anatomy, (See my photo above from that same museum in Greece) and saw how the human body was composed of many members, and used it in this letter. He did the same with the Roman soldier guarding him and was inspired to write about the full armor of God. But, he begins with exhorting us to live our lives in the best way possible as an offering to God. And, we are not talking tips, or pieces of our lives; though a wise man said, "I wish people would tip on their income, they'd have to give at least 15% and 18% if they liked the sermon!"
What Paul is saying is don't compartmentalize your life. Every aspect of your daily life should be consecrated to God as an offering; "Your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around-life - and place it before God as an offering." Think about that. How do you sleep? What do you dream? If our dreams are a reflection of our lives, fears, wishes, worries, joys; who's taken center stage? Every night as the curtain is drawn to the stage of your dreams, who is in the starring role? If we are living a God-centered life, we will have the kind of dreams that reflect that. Yes, as often happens when we're watching tv we might see a commercial or a program pop up that we quickly change the channel, sometimes an invited "guest" may come on stage, but just as a reminder that we're not that far removed from earth. I love the lyrics of Fernando Ortega's "King of Angels" says, "Jesus, King of angels, Heaven's light Shine Your face upon this house tonight Let no evil come into my dreams Light of Heaven keep me in Your peace Remind me how You made dark spirits flee And spoke Your power to the raging sea And spoke Your mercy to a sinful man Remind me Jesus, this is what I am"
Our eating should also glorify God, but I won't ask you to revisit the blue plate special from today, or last night's pizza. Paul says, all areas of our lives should show that we are grateful to God and we offer ourselves in gratitude to Him as a love offering. Note how he goes on to address how "well-adjusted" we can become to the culture, that we "fit into it without even thinking." He urges us, "Fix your attention on God." And the desired results will come; "changed from the inside out." Remember, we are citizens of Heaven first, then we add whatever label or flag we want to live under. And if we are truly a part of Christ's body, then all of us, working and living together, work for the good of Christ in the world; not the other way around. When the world ends, or if we end before the world, what will be left?
Whatever it is that you do for God, do it well and do it all the time. If you follow me on Facebook, you know that recently I have posed questions for pastors, knowing all who relate will share, and my question on prayers brought several funny responses, including the small town pastor asked to check a nonworking microphone and it was not grounded, and when it was plugged in and this pastor was holding it, a word that would not, and should not, be uttered from the pulpit on Sunday or Wednesdays, escaped his mouth! And may have shown a little of what was still in there that Jesus hadn't quite taken as perhaps the man was still holding on to it.
We give of what we have, and who we are. And I pray that all of us, not hold on to what we know should be gone; instead strive to be righteous and holy, and from that starting point move every onward and upward.
PRAYER: Loving Jesus, we all love You. We pray You would remove from us that which sometimes gives us away in ways that honor someone else and not You. Forgive us, and sanctify us for Thy service. This we pray in Thy holy name, Jesus our Lord and Savior, amen!
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Do something for God in the name and spirit of God for anyone in need.
Receive my blessings of joy and comfort,
Pastor Eradio Valverde
